The Hacker Project - a free online game

Hullo Marko 

Happy hacking!

LVII

I've also read the following:

Count Zero
Mona lisa overdrive
Burning chrome

They of course do not have the same impact as Neuromancer as they all build on the neuromancer world, but I found all of them to be great books to read. Excellent books, though not quite at the top of my reading list.

Dune is simply fantastic but a certain degree of lassitude gets to me after so many of them (which is maybe why I cannot be said to be a true geek!)

Here let me do you a favour...

knocks down all the stuff on the top of the list and hands ZacQuicksilver a dodgy copy of Neuromancer

There, much better like that. On the top of the list as it should be.

William Gibson - complete works. 

As far as computer games - Zork (the text game series!)

For some reason which I do not quite understand every true geek I've ever met has had a fascination with the film Godzilla (I refer to the 1954 version) I don't know why... it's just a fact I've noticed.

It's not from a movie. It's from a book.

The movie was an afterthought.

Number of chromosomes in a typical diploid human cell.

Cheers.

 

Why do you think that's a fail? I personally admire the discipline of someone who has the guts to hold his position even though dehydration and heat lead him to pass out.

But then... I actually also happen to remember the article which went along with that particular picture.

Agreed, this is not a "simple" coding issue - this would be a significant overhaul in the way many aspects of the game work.

I've never "seriously" coded a game (yes, I've coded but I am not a good coder ) However I have worked as head of game QC for a few years and this is the kind of change to which I would assign 20-30 hours of QC testing time simply to detect the bugs, nevermind actually get around to fixing them.

Basically whenever you touch a game engine/routine/code you have to verify not only the process which you wanted to (in this case the multiple instance research) in every conceivable way (you'd be amazed) but also every other process which uses the same engine/routine/code. It really adds up. Very quickly.

If someone had proposed a change like this to me back then this would have been my evaluation:

1) Does this add anything new to the game? No - you can already do what is proposed.
2) Does enhance the gaming experience - Marginally - yes there is an improvement of the game interface but there are far more important improvements to be made
3) It would be a high risk measure resulting in significant resources dedicated both from coders and testers to little benefit for the players - I would therefore not recommend doing this in the presence of other higher priority projects (and heaven knows there are a lot of those)

I write again because I feel I must.

Much of what has been said before me, particularly by Moen, Magna Carta and Ebolla I echo.

The implementation of this change would mean a radical change to the game – I know it’s within the TOS for radical changes to be made to the game. I accepted that.

Changes are necessary to every game. Things need to be balanced, ideas need to be tried out, new content be implemented. All of this implies change some of which could change in a very substantial manner the game mechanics; it could force me to change my outlook, my tactics and my goals. I am sure I would welcome some of those changes, and I would probable curse a few of them too.

But HP would remain HP. Evolving certainly changing but that tingle of excitement – not knowing if my servers have been hacked, if my plans have worked out, have my precious virii been disinfected or stolen?

All of this matters because I have a goal. It’s not a goal which can be accomplished in a day or a week or a month or even several months. But I have it and I wish to accomplish it. To that means I have poured in resources – I have spent a considerable amount of time reading and learning, planning and calculating. I have contributed financially in order to put forward my plans to the stage where they are manageable and I have committed myself to the joys of the game.

Ash.

Ash is all that I feel is left now. The bitter disappointment of a dream of a joy which seems to be going horribly terribly wrong. Now I know all my work was for naught, for I will probably not see its fruition. Or will I? Everything is uncertain and in the uncertainty there is no joy, only ash.

A fresh start would compensate? No… the mere thought of having again to find hundreds of secret servers… well that is certainly not a joy.

We talk about other successful games. I think perhaps the following might be a more accurate model for HP to follow:

Kapilands – An economic modeling game
Renaissance Kingdoms (RK) – A medieval setting game
World of Dungeons (WoD) – A fantasy setting game

Most of you will not have heard of these I suppose. They all share these characteristics in common:

1) They are all persistent worlds. Never does the game stop, though in some cases you, as an individual, have that option.
2) None of them are “commercial” in the normal sense of the world. RK was developed by 3 friends, the other two have a single developer behind them.
3) They have all been greatly expanded by players helping the developers. Game translations, art, stories, background etc. have all contributed to make them great games.
4) They all have a playerbase of over 100,000 active players (WoD might be a tiny bit less, hard to know but the others are both well over the mark), sometimes distributed in various worlds, sometimes only in one. I think that makes all of them very successful. That is the sort of thing I was hoping for HP.
5) They all have the same financing model as HP does. This may be a minor point for some, but I feel Sir Emi might like to know.

I know feel sad and to some extent betrayed when I log onto HP. I think that the fundamental nature of the consequences implementing the proposed Faith-Revelation story are enormous.

I also realize that Sir Emi has put a lot of work already into this game – I’ve been a game developer as well and I have some idea how it works (and yes the games I worked on got published) – I want to help but right now I am in shock. I would like this to be a game where the players could help build it and develop it to its full potential which is there. It is something that would be fantastic for everyone… but this is just putting a break on that development.

If this goes ahead as planned I know I will not stay, maybe I will do what Ebolla claims and ask for my money back , maybe I will just fade away.

I don’t know. All I know is the current situation is more ash than joy.

Here you go then:

I must say I have to echo the sentiment above.

Let me do just that:

Bah, I don't like this one bit. I was hoping for a game where there's at least an option for a persistent world.

Why?

Because it makes all the difference on how you play. I've already charted out the next six months of development - Yes all six months with milestones, key target researches etc. Everything to get me near to the top, and actually it's working even better than I expected.

Instead now I see this and I don't even know if I will have six months. Or three. Or twelve. What is even worse is that it is basically out of my hands. If I divert resources to researching "Faith" then I will fail in my original objectives. If I do not divert resources to research "Faith" then I may not have the time required to accomplish them.

I would have much much much preferred a means of attrition or technological obsolescence of software and/or hardware to limit growth and allow people to catch up to the top. Frankly I am left now with that bittersweet taste of "oh another game which I joined halfway through and which may reset before I get to where I want to. Or maybe it won't. Or whatever."

Heh ... here is (another) reason why never to do this -

There are times when *gasp* I am a week away from the computer.

So I would walk away and come back to find someone has taken over my server and there is nothing left for me to do at all? I would not even have a server which I could use as gateway to collect on any eventual revenues I might have. What kind of a daft thing is that??? Enough to have people stop playing altogether is what it is.

Oh and an ancillary thought. How do you measure inactivity on a server *anyhow* I might have several servers and have one which I have not visited in over a week. Does that make it inactive and overtakable?

Honestly I do NOT see this idea contributing anything GOOD to the game and I see a lot of PROBLEMS with it. If you propose an idea you should be ready to accept criticism - dismissing criticism as oh "you guys just want to dismiss my idea" is exquisitely convoluted and eminently counter-productive.

Er... urm...

I read the whole discussion carefully and reached one conclusion:

 

Well, I guess it's nice to be able to use these guys now and then.

Aside from the very accurate criticisms made by Crlaozwyn there is one other issue:

Why would you want this? I mean really how would you benefit? I all but control over 100 servers already - no one will ever find (most) of them no one will touch them and they are all quietly generating revenue for me, all without this kind of hassle.

When you take over a server infest it with virii to the point that the server is unusable for anything else, you've taken over. What would be the point of this suggestion? I might be dumb but really I don't get it. Unless you are trying or hoping to circumvent the AP limitations, in which case this will never fly in any case.